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Examine a range of alternative healing approaches to the biomedical model that is currently the dominant logic for preventing, understanding and treating pain and suffering. You review the scientific-technological model and contrast it to the growing number of alternative strategies used to treat pain and suffering. You learn how the biomedical model understands pain as a neurological process that is closely linked to the brain and its mechanisms. You also discuss the scientific, rational logic of Western medicine compared to alternative approaches, many of which grow out of Eastern philosophical systems such as Buddhism and Hinduism. The aim of this workshop, using both lecture and group exercises, is for you to gain a better understanding of a more natural, holistic and integrative approach to aiding those who are afflicted by pain and suffering.
Learner Outcomes
At the end of this workshop, you should be able to:
- Provide caregivers with an understanding of the mind/brain issue, particularly as it relates to providing care to the pain and suffering of clients.
- Understand Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’ pioneering work in the late 1960s on medicine’s treatment of death and dying.
- Learn how research is assessing the effectiveness of some of the more commonly accepted Eastern alternative strategies (e.g., acupuncture, mindfulness, meditation and yoga) that are now being widely used in the treatment and management of pain and suffering.
- Gain a clearer understanding of the role of the spiritual mind and the material brain in the management of pain and suffering, and how the strategies of meditation and medication impact the healing process.
- Explore your own orientation as a caregiver, and learn to develop coping strategies for dealing with pain and suffering and how these personal processes may be affecting the therapeutic relationship.